My design challenge was to make a cohesive advertisement that could fit into an existing ad campaign. I chose the LiveTwice Campaign by Mexican Transplant Association, or Sociedad Mexicana de Transplantes in its native language. The targeted audience of this new ad were 18+ year old males and females enjoy and participate in sports, and who are compassionate. This design is meant to urge the target audience to consider being an organ donor, so that those needing transplants can have a second chance at life.

The original ad used depth of field in the top photo to add focus on the person. Similarly, the focus is put on the legs of an athlete with an outdoor background in the bottom photo. Because the background of the bottom photo is darker than that of the top photo, a subtle shadow effect was created on the word “twice.”

Although this ad’s two photos take roughly half of the combined image size each, it does still follow the rule of thirds. The four areas, marked below are the girl’s face, left arm, right elbow, and a left leg that is in close proximity to the bottom left intersecting imaginary lines.

There is almost a seamless transition between the girl’s upper body and torso and the athletic legs beneath.

These were things I kept in mind as I created my new ad.

Color Analysis of Original Ad

The original ad has a strong repetition of the color white throughout the ad. This is in the typography, logo, website, and shoes. Using white creates a visual contrast and helps the typography to pop out and get attention, while maintaining legibility.

As mentioned previously, there is visual contrast between the legs and the outdoor background, to put emphasis on the legs.

There is a light colored background behind the girl’s body.

Typography Analysis of Original Ad

The main typography used in this ad is a thin, sans serif font.

There is, however, a contrasting Oldstyle serif font used in the logo text.

One very interesting thing about this ad is that the letter i is connected between both words. The bottom one is upside-down, creating almost a reflection effect.

New Ad

Design Analysis

As shown below, these all use similar design principles of visual contrast, rule of thirds, and a smooth transition between the upper body and torso and the athletic legs with an outdoor background. They also use similar depth of field principles, putting the focus on the body, not the background.

Color Analysis

As shown below, this new ad uses a repetition of white, visual contrast between both bodies and backgrounds in the ad.

Typography Analysis

As shown below, this new ad uses similar typefaces of sans serif, with a little bit of serif font. Also the letter i is connected between the text, as well as the bottom one being upside-down.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this new ad that I created is cohesive with the existing LiveTwice ad campaign because it uses similar background contrast between the two images, as well as a shadow on the word twice. It also uses rules of thirds, and has a smooth transition between the upper body and torso and the athletic legs with an outdoor background. It also uses a consistent repetition of the color white, includes visual contrast, and includes similar typefaces.

My design challenge was to make a creative ad for a common, non-interesting household item. I made advertisements for an everyday toilet plunger, not necessarily the most exciting product but one most people use. The targeted audience of these ads were 25 to 34 year old males who are married, have a Bachelor’s Degree, and whose media consumption is blogs and social media. This design appeals to the target audience through humor.

There were several main design decisions that were made once a product was chosen. I spent a lot of time brainstorming, trying to figure out something that wasn’t too literal. Going through my sketches and mind mapping, I was really drawn to a tag phrase about being stuck. That in and of itself lends itself well to humor. I chose a car that had both crashed and was stuck in the mud. I used Photoshop to blend the photos of the motorcycle mud splash, the car crashed in the corn field and the red plunger.

In my design, I was to choose a company that sells toilet plungers. You would be surprised how hard it is to find a brand for this product that isn’t obscure. I was finally able to come up with Mr. Clean after a serendipitous walk through the grocery store. I chose a sans serif font to keep it simple and not to compete with the rest of the ad.

The design principle of rules of thirds were used in the layouts. The edge of the car crashed photos take up two-thirds of the advertisement. Mr. Clean lies on that same line and the imaginary line for the bottom one-third of the ad. Colors were originally all neutrals, but I added in pops of blue, teal, and a little red/red-orange. I used left alignment in my two text boxes. The handle of the blue plunger aligns vertically with the end of the word “mess” in the first text box and horizontally with the top of the red plunger’s handle.

The advertisements for Facebook and blogs have similar formatting but had to be rearranged for different pixel sizes.

Color

The next design decision that I made was to choose a color palette. I stuck with the neutral earthy tones of black, white, brown, olive green and gray. I added in a medium blue, teal, and reddish orange for visual contrast. The Mr. Clean logo helps to brighten up the advertisements and create a strong visual contrast to the car stuck in the mud.

Repetition of the three dominant colors of brown, green and blue can be found on both advertisements. The color red, albeit different shades were repeated in both the plunger and the Mr. Clean logo. The blue on the plunger is the same blue outline that I found on the logo. The color white was repeated with the car, Mr. Clean’s shirt and the second text box. Using this repetition kept the advertisements cohesive.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this blog post has discussed the design principles of visual contrast, alignment, colors, and the use of color for visual interest and cohesion. Repetition has been used through color and objects. Humor has been used to appeal to the target audience.

This blog post will be discussing principles of design, typography, color, and photography that I used to make this magazine spread mock-up. It will also describe the purpose of the magazine spread, and it’s intended audience. Design principles discussed will include repetition, alignment, and proximity, visual contrast, visual interest, and the importance of cohesiveness.

This magazine spread uses a two column layout, with multiple headings, and quotes from the article (called pull quotes), and the use of text wraps around images and pull quotes. It also contains consistent heading typeface and body copy typeface throughout the pages.

My targeted audience of the magazine spread are those who are having a faith crisis and feel like they’re just going through the motions (ie. dancing without music). The main message I wanted to communicate through the design is to bring a calm assurance that it is possible to be able to hear the music again. This design appeals to the target audience through a calming color palette, and poignant photographs that were used to convey the message of the article. The color palette is visually appealing to those seeking peace, answers, and reassurance.

Design Analysis

There were several main design decisions that were made once an article was chosen. The first decision was to choose a layout. This was done through multiple sketches as well as looking to other magazine articles with multiple pages for inspiration on how to bring visual interest and be cohesive. I chose to use a two column layout. I feel like it is easier to read the article in this format compared to using a three column layout. There is also consistent proximity and padding between the columns and images and quotes. The visual interest and contrast lend well to the reader to move their eyes throughout the pages in the magazine spread.

Color

The next design decision that I made was to choose a color palette. I specifically was looking for a color palette with a warm undertone, but peaceful, relaxing, calm colors. I am using the color palette called BeachGlass from Color Schemer. Repetition of the two dominant colors of green and blue can be found on every page. Other repeated elements include triangles in the corners of the pages, and typeface colors. This helps the cohesion. The pull quotes also use colored rectangles behind the quote to create both visual interest and visual contrast.

Typography

For the body copy text, I used an Oldstyle, or serif, typeface of Minion Pro. Because the body text was an Oldstyle typeface, the heading typeface chosen was a sans serif, Helvetica, for visual contrast. Another typeface, script, called Great Vibes was used on the pull quotes to create more visual contrast and help the quotes to stand out more. All of the magazine spread text is left aligned. Contrasting typefaces are beneficial to highlight and draw attention to important areas.

Photography

The first two photographs used the rule of thirds, in that they take up approximately 2/3 and 1/3 of the page. The second photograph uses depth of field and focuses on the man with the headphones. The third photograph was cropped to fit in a circle to help the depth of field by focusing on the person dancing/jumping in the air with joy.

The first photograph was chosen because a violin takes extreme focus to play, as well as requires a minimum amount of background noise to be able to hear it. The second photograph was chosen because the image I wanted to convey was literally and figuratively tuning out the background noise of life to be able to hear better. The last photograph was used because I felt it embodied the essence of the joy of being able to hear the music, and not simply going through the motions and dancing without music.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this blog post has discussed the design principles of visual contrast, and the use of color for visual interest. It has also discussed the value in contrasting typefaces. Repetition has been used through color, typography choices, alignment, proximity. This magazine spread utilizes a two column layout, with multiple headings, and pull quotes from the article, and the use of text wraps around images and pull quotes. It also contains consistent heading typeface and body copy typeface throughout the pages and creates a visually appealing and cohesive magazine spread.

This altered photograph highlights how the photographer utilized the photographic element of rule of thirds. With the rule of thirds, the goal is to make an imaginary grid that breaks the photograph into three columns and three rows. Part of the photograph should line up at (or near) one or more of these intersections, to create a more balanced composition. The photographer used this design element by placing the athlete’s bicep at the top left intersection, the knuckles of a hand in line with the vertical line on the right, a foot at the bottom right intersection, and part of the Nike logo at the bottom left intersection.

This photograph was personally taken by me The purpose of this photograph was for me to better understand and apply the rule of thirds.

This altered photograph relates to the professional example because I also added a grid that breaks the photograph into three columns and three rows. I utilized the photographic element of rule of thirds by having the hood of the jacket line up with the top left intersection. For the top right intersection, I have the other side of the inner edge of the hood in close proximity to it. For the bottom right intersection, it lines up with the edge of a hand. The jacket sleeve in is line with the left vertical line, and one of the eyes is in line with the vertical line on the right.

This altered photograph highlights how the photographer utilized the photographic element of leading lines. With leading lines, the goal is to create movement in the photograph by having imaginary lines all meet at a single point. The photographer used this design element by having all the streets converge at a point in the far distance of the background. This helps the viewer’s eyes to move through the photograph more smoothly and to be able to intake the whole photograph without interruption.

This photograph was personally taken by me. The purpose of this photograph was for me to better understand and apply the element of leading lines.

This altered photograph relates to the professional example because it also shows a point of convergence, which help the viewer’s eyes to move through the photograph more easily. These lines of the street and sidewalks converge to the left edge of the photograph, near the center.

This altered photograph highlights how the photographer utilized the photographic element of depth of field. With depth of field, the goal is to create the focus of the photograph to be either the foreground or the background, with adjustment of the aperture. The photographer used this design element by placing the focus on the hill and buildings in the foreground. The image is more sharp, clear and more defined, whereas the background becomes faded and blurred. The red lines on this image circle around which parts of the photograph are more faded and not as sharp.

This photograph was personally taken by me. The purpose of this photograph was for me to better understand and apply the depth of field element.

This altered photograph relates to the professional example because I also used red lines to show which parts of the photograph are out of focus. In this case, it is the grass in the background while the focus is put onto the deck bars. I was able to accomplish this by setting my aperture to be more open.

Summary

In summary, this post has discussed and shown how the photographic elements of rule of thirds, leading lines, and depth of field can contribute to a successful photographic composition.